Sealed Time
by The Exile
Summary: Sequel to 'Playing Columns on the Walls of Jericho'. Another Sonic (from Sonic CD) arrives just in time to stop Classic Sonic's berserk rampage. He takes them to Miracle Planet to teach them about responsible time travel. Classic Sonic walks into a trap set by an insane doppelgänger who he finds trapped in the Bad Future. Spoilers, a few cameos, AU, kinda dark with lots of angst.
1. Chapter 1

_Golden fire roars through the sky like a comet falling to Earth, its reflection lighting up the turbulent dark waters as it speeds across the ocean towards its dark purpose. There is madness and malice in those glowing red eyes but apart from that, he recognised the face..._

He blinked, startled by the vividity of the dream, but it was not enough to wake him. If anything, he was being pulled in deeper, his senses more lucid even than in waking, every sensation intensified almost to the point of pain.

It was one of *those* dreams, he knew. He hadn't been visited by one of them in a long time. For a given value of 'time'. He was surprised that there would be one right here, right now. Something important was about to happen to him. The dream was undoubtedly a portent of an event that was really happening and of vital consequence to at least one world.

"Okay," he said out loud. He still wasn't sure if there was an aware intelligence that was there to be addressed and could actually hear him but it made him feel better to at least pretend to talk to a real person. It was force of habit, from the days when he still had things like normal conversations and a timeline that flowed in a straight line in a single direction, "Is this what's happening now? In the past? Future I'm supposed to prevent? Are you going to actually show me them all or leave me to guess for my..."

_A great city of black glass and cobalt light, its roads spreading out across the Continent, its spires reaching the skies so that its glamour could find a place among the stars. Cities everywhere, named after the celestial bodies. Beautiful, fragile works that could never be replaced. Then the trees rustle. Out from behind their dark branches come not birds but a great fleet of battleships, strange living machines, amalgamations of flesh, bone and steel. Their great white wings beat as one. They rise in perfect formation into the air, their warp engines an eagle's shriek to pierce the sky's cool breeze. He couldn't see where they were going, who was the intended recipient of the attack, but he knew all the same. _

_He was running after them, screaming at them to stop, even though he knew straight away that it was a vision of a past already decided, when the scene shifted..._

_Flames and devastation all around him, a destruction as unfettered as the madness in the voice that roared as it threw fire. It was a voice devoid of any mockery or triumph, of any pain or regret, only a simple satisfaction in finishing what it had begun, of burning up every single part of what it had set out to burn. Golden fire raining from the sky, laced with blood-red corruption, crimson as the spires that fell and crushed any who dared try to flee. At first he wondered if this was something to do with the war that had been about to start in the first vision, that maybe fate had changed the outcome, but there was nobody else there, not a single soldier or ship, only that God of Destruction in the sky._

_The one who bore his face..._

_He yelled a challenge up at the other of him, but was ignored. Deciding that he had finished, the doppelgänger had risen above the flames and sped off into the darkness, to cauterise the other parts of history that he wished not to spread..._

"Okay, OKAY, I get the picture, now are you going to show me a possible outcome of this that doesn't go horribly wrong? Even just the bit where I can do something about it? Any clues at all?" he yelled at the voice, who, as usual, didn't answer.

* * *

><p>Time grabbed Modern Sonic, hurled him into a surging electric ocean of emerald, then, just as the choir of angels in his head told him he was about to drown, deposited him in a heap beside Classic Sonic. They were both sprawled on the floor next to a pile of chaos emeralds that Knuckles was gathering up in his spike-gloved fists and placing lovingly back onto their plinths, while periodically glaring at one or other of the three hedgehogs.<p>

Modern Sonic counted again, just to make sure he hadn't counted himself twice or something. Three. The other two were glaring at each other with even more venom than Knuckles put into his own glare. If something had happened to the Emeralds, it was a major feat in itself to look more irritated than Knuckles.

"What the heck are you two doing?" demanded the third Sonic, who looked a little like himself at a stage in his life somewhere between Classic's time period and his current situation. He had placed a foot on top of an Emerald to stop Classic grabbing it, but quickly relinquished it when Knuckles shoved him aside.

"Sorry about the mess, dude, it's kind of my fault," said Modern Sonic, shrugging. He didn't like admitting that things were his fault but he still felt a crushing guilt at what he had done to his Classic counterpart. He also had no idea what he was going to do to make it up to him.

"I meant, why are you using time travel so irresponsibly?"

"We had to. The world was in danger," he said, folding his arms, "I hate time travel. I'd be happiest if I never went into another time or alternate dimension again, but it just keeps on happening to me. Anyway, I was just about to put him back in his own time. I still will, I promise!"

"And if you do that, he'll find some more Chaos Emeralds in his own time and do exactly the same thing again, to his own time!" the third hedgehog gave an exasperated sigh, "You can't just go on as if nothing had ever happened. You've affected your past. Your past has been changed, and that's affected your future. How many times have you done this now and why haven't you learned your lesson yet?"

"I'm not going back anyway," said Classic Sonic, "I'm not going to just live out a doomed timeline like a good little sheep... hey!" he suddenly snapped his fingers, "I know who you are!"

"You do?" said Modern Sonic, pleased to see him looking slightly less depressed.

"You remember that green light thingy, right? All the talk about the time travelling we were doing before... he's the Sonic that went to the Miracle Planet!"

"I thought that was you!"

"Yes, he's right, and no, I'm a different hedgehog," he sighed, "And I really shouldn't be lecturing you on the virtues of responsible time travel. You're not the one who got yourself trapped on the Miracle Planet in an infinite time loop."

* * *

><p>"But you're standing right here in front of us!" Modern Sonic scratched his head.<p>

"The Miracle Planet wanders, remember? When it passes close enough to another world, the influence of its time loop can just about affect what happens there. That's how it ended up being chained to Moebius," he explained, "You're amazingly lucky. Well, it might not be luck. I'm working on a theory that the planet's alive, or at least something very powerful on the planet is deciding where it ends up."

"So, how long have you been trapped on that planet?" he replied, "Are you not allowed to leave, or is it just that you can't? Are we gonna end up like this? What if the planet moves with you still on our world?"

"He can't answer that many questions all at once!" snapped Knuckles. He had scooped the Emeralds into a pile in his hands instead of returning them all to their correct positions to be used by Tails as a power source. He was worried about the ever growing number of hedgehogs playing around with them again, and if they were all going to be standing around talking, Tails didn't need them for his machines either.

"I won't be allowed to stay here when the planet leaves," said the third Sonic, "And I don't know exactly when that will be. I'm not going to leave until I know for sure that whatever damage you two have done to the world isn't going to come back the moment I leave. The best way I can see to resolve all of this, is for you to come back with me."

"And be trapped on the Miracle Planet forever?" yelped Modern Sonic, "I mean, it's nice and all, the fish are pretty, but what about all my friends and the worlds I need to save?"

"I can't slink off into permanent exile, I've got a war to turn the tide of!" agreed Classic Sonic.

"You won't be trapped. You're not travelling in time, just a quick space flight. I'm not letting either of you near the Time Stones until you learn the basics of responsible time travel, and even then, you're not going to expose yourself to the raw power of all the Stones in the same place with absolutely no shielding, like I did," he replied, glaring at Classic Sonic, "Besides, there aren't any Chaos Emeralds on the Miracle Planet. There's something seriously up with you."

"Oh, he'll recover, he's just real angry at what he found out, and at me for not telling him earlier," explained Modern Sonic.

"I mean, apart from his brain. We've always been nuts. Something really wrong."  
><em><br>It's not resolved yet, he mentally told himself, The visions aren't changing. The bad future isn't going away._

"Take your time to think about it, and talk it over with all your friends," ordered the third Sonic, "I'm sure Knuckles can stop any of us getting our hands on the Emeralds for just the one day."

"It is kind of supposed to be my job," he snarled, before shoving Modern Sonic away from the door and storming out, Emeralds tucked under his arm. The third Sonic followed the sullen Echidna, his thoughts almost as dark.  
><em><br>Maybe this one isn't going to end well, whatever happens. They don't always. Sometimes I feel grateful I'm allowed to just stay on the Miracle Planet._


	2. Chapter 2

Today's lesson was about how to avoid meeting your doppelgänger, how to escape quickly if you do happen to meet, and if something does happen to prevent you from escaping, how to safely interact without putting too much strain on each other's personal timelines.

"You're very lucky that you just met yourself from your respective past and future," said Miracle Sonic, as he had been named despite his protests, "Doppelgänger from two different possible worlds are more difficult to deal with. They always end up fighting over whose timeline is the real one. Because they can survive without the other one existing, they can sometimes even turn violent and try to destroy each other. You need to learn to defend yourself against malicious copies of yourself, if you're going to do a lot of time travelling. However, it's always best to avoid meeting them completely, as you'll always take at least some damage from meeting them."

"So... which are you?" asked Modern Sonic, "From the past or from another possible world?"

"That's kinda complicated to answer. This place has its own rules when it comes to time travel."

"Have you met a lot of those evil doppelgängers?" asked Classic Sonic.

"They're like... well, a little like you were," he said, resting his head on his chin, leaning on the projector screen and sighing, "I had a hard time stopping them from trashing the place. It's something I don't really want to remember. Anyway, the most important thing to learn is how to sense if another version of yourself is around. You can already tell when each other are nearby. I want you to practice that technique until each of you always know where the other is, and you can tell each other apart from myself. You're going to practice sneaking up on each other until it's impossible for either of you."

"Sounds fun!" said Classic Sonic, already dashing away from the table at a speed that not only took him out of his chair but also flung the chair up into the air. Modern Sonic reflexively caught it, then vaulted over the table and chased after his past counterpart, yelling witty banter at him.

The lessons were held in a combined lecture theatre and observation booth in the middle of Tidal Tempest Zone. As well as being equipped with a projector so that marine biologists could explain their latest work, the fish tended to calm the two Hedgehogs down to the point that they could concentrate on the lessons for longer than five seconds. Failing that, the only exits were either in narrow corridors or underwater, which slowed them down when he needed to catch them again. Both Hedgehogs were fascinated by the tropical fish in the high-tech aquariums of the Zone. The project to preserve and even reintroduce so many species of fish that were rare on a galactic scale represented the height of the progress that the unseen janitors of the Miracle Planet had made towards turning their world into the perfect balance of technology and nature. Miracle Sonic enjoyed the view almost as much as he did the bizarre apparatus that now took up the entirety of Wacky Workbench Zone. Mostly made up of glowing capsules inside giant columns, crystal structures of various celestial bodies mounted on giant pedestals, heraldic emblems, archways to nowhere and endless brightly coloured glowing panels, he had been told by his astral guides that the mystical machine was designed to streamline the process of time travel, prophetic visions and guiding the planet on its destined journey, and that he shouldn't ask too many questions unless he wanted his brains to melt out of his ears.

He was secretly still amazed that it had been so easy to persuade the two Hedgehogs to come back with him at all. Tails had immediately approved of the idea, admitting that he had been worried about the effect of all the spontaneous time travel and dimension-hopping on the space-time continuum. Shadow was just glad to see the back of all the Sonics, and had promised to take over their duties in giving Doctor Robotnik a hard time in their absence. Rouge had gotten bored halfway through the meeting and stolen the Chaos Emeralds so that Knuckles would chase her. Amy said she remembered the Miracle Planet from her last visit and that it was the perfect spot for a romantic date. Miracle Sonic suspected that she had found her own way back to the planet and was stalking them even now.

The next few days had been a fairly uneventful, even calm process of passing on his wisdom as best as he could to his disciples. He couldn't really blame them for having the mentality of hyperactive four-year-olds when it came to learning the mysteries of the Universe. It was himself, not the other Sonics, who was the odd one out. Truth be told, he didn't even know how long he had been stuck in the time loop. He had given up counting, or fighting its effect on him, long ago. He was no longer behaving like Sonic, that was for sure. It was refreshing to at least have an example of how this person called Sonic was supposed to behave, so he could get in some practice. So, those days had been a time of mutual learning. His worst fears had been unconfirmed. Modern Sonic hadn't done any real damage to the space-time continuum and Classic Sonic had been acting steadily less homicidal, maybe due to the effects of the Chaos Emeralds wearing off. He still had an air of melancholy about him, often going for long walks at a pace that would normally be unbearably slow for him, humming downbeat tunes to himself and staring up at the sky, pondering something within himself, but it was the healthy reaction of a person who had received devastating news and couldn't do a single thing about it.

Still, the prophecy wasn't changing. If he had changed the future for the better, if he had at least unlocked the possibility of a good outcome, the dreams would have shown him the mended future at least once by now.

Something was still wrong. His gut instinct was telling him so. Not only with the Hedgehogs now, but with the planet itself. Maybe that was because he had brought the Hedgehogs to the planet. A sudden nauseating wrench of fear went through him as he realised how bad an idea that might have been. Breaking his promise that he would give them a five minute head start, he threw out his senses as far as he could, sweeping the entire planet until he found them.

Classic Sonic was heading into Quartz Quadrant Zone. Modern Sonic had picked up his trail and was following him - from what Miracle Sonic could tell, Classic Sonic didn't know he had been discovered. Miracle Sonic focussed his senses on the area itself, and...

He snapped himself out of his trance, yelping at the pain that lanced through his head. He shook his head until every single one of the cascade of needle-sharp, red-hot images was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

Of all the possible hiding places on the planet, Quartz Quadrant had the widest choice and the best spots. As well as the trees to climb and the mechanical domes of unknown purpose to jump on top of, the Zone reached deep underground, among the caverns of glittering quartz crystals and the mining area that had been prematurely abandoned long ago, when Robotnik had fled the area in retreat from Sonic. The quartz that was already mined had been sculpted into statues to commemorate the victory, decorating the very same spot they had been extracted from. Miracle Sonic was convinced that there was, in fact, more quartz now than there had been when he arrived on the planet, when the mining operation had begun. This observation freaked him out slightly. Despite his careful monitoring of the local space-time continuum, he couldn't account for the amount of quartz at any one time. He didn't like any kind of indication that something might still be wrong with the shape of space and time. For this reason, it was an especially good place to hide from Miracle Sonic, leaving only Modern Sonic. He wasn't all that good at remembering to look up, so hiding in a tree or on top of a dome would be his best bet.

It took him a few moments to register that something was wrong with the zone. The experience was a little like suddenly realising that you had been driving in the exact opposite direction to the way you wanted to go for half an hour, or maybe figuring out that the things happening to you had gotten gradually more surreal and improbable because it was a dream, not just a particularly weird day. The next corner he took, he wasn't in the same Quartz Quadrant Zone any more.

After he blinked and shook his head a few times to adjust his eyes to the darkness, then jumped just in time to avoid a death trap that hadn't been there the last twenty times he ran in that direction, he slowed to a halt so that he could take a look at the reverted Zone. It was in the same state that it had been in before Sonic had gone back in time to remove Robotnik's robot generators before they even began mechanising the planet. The Quadrant had been completely mined out, leaving only the hollow shell of the hill and the crumbling foundations of Robotnik's over-intensive mining operation, abandoned long ago without even bothering to tell the automated systems to turn themselves off. Mining and security robots wandered around aimlessly, looking rather dejected. At least they weren't trying to kill him or collapse the entire Zone on top of him. Maybe their parts were too rusted to even carry out the usual mockery of their function. Classic Sonic didn't normally feel sorry for the robots he destroyed but, in his current situation, he felt himself sympathising with them. The future he would go back to, whether or not Robotnik took it over, was much the same. It was empty. Everything unique and beautiful had been destroyed or taken somewhere he couldn't follow, to be turned into something he couldn't use. He would be left going through the motions of his former life that had ceased to become relevant, the guardian of a world that no longer really existed.

_For all it matters, I might as well stay here,_ he thought. _It's pretty, in a fallen sort of way._

"What the heck do you guys even need this much quartz for, anyway?" he casually asked a robot who kept trying to shove his legs out of the way so it could drill through the spot he was standing on.

"Not programmed with that information," it warbled at him in a crackling monotone, "Ask supervisor robot."

"Well, do you at least see that you've finished mining the place out? If you can't turn yourselves off, at least move on somewhere else where you can still make yourselves useful!"

"Time to move on," replied the robot. Classic Sonic wondered exactly who had been lecturing who.

"It's a giant laser," said another voice. Sonic whirled around, leaving the little robot to wander off in a perfect straight line, whistling to itself.

"To answer your question. The quartz was made into a refractor for a giant laser," continued the newcomer who was now walking towards him, eyes fixed on a point at his feet, as he spoke in a voice that sounded very like the Hedgehog's own, "So large that it could be mounted on the planet as a weapon powerful to destroy a similar sized planet in one burst. Of course, the planet needed to be unchained again first. I think Robotnik simply ran out of resources to finish the job, made do with what he could get out of the planet in the short term, then left. Such a waste."

"Miracle Sonic?" asked Classic Sonic in a dubious tone.

"There are no miracles in this Universe, Classic Sonic, only cheap tricks that eventually backfire because of the one thing you leave out when you don't do a thorough job. Like closing off a doomed timeline with your doppelgänger still inside it!"

"You're... you live here?" Classic Sonic gasped.

"I've been here at least as long as the one you call 'Miracle Sonic' has existed. For as long as the timeline you think is the true timeline, the resolved timeline, has been running, this one has existed alongside it in a completely isolated loop. To give him the benefit of the doubt, I don't think my twin even knows I or my home even exist."

"Then you have to tell him! He wouldn't just abandon you if he knew!" insisted Classic Sonic.

"I'm sure he would love to come back and fix his mistake. But I'm afraid I'm not the hedgehog he once knew, and I don't think he'd like me if he met me in person," said the hedgehog with a crooked grin, "Besides, I kind of got to like this place after a while. There are things I can do here that I don't think would be possible in the other timeline. Even if they were, I probably wouldn't be allowed to do them."

"Why, what have you been doing here?"

"I was hoping you would ask. You see, I think you would be in a unique position to benefit from my little project," he smiled, "Once this thing is complete - and it will be soon - it will be a weapon powerful enough to win the Console War... no, to annihilate the enemy entirely!"

"What the... you can't seriously be thinking of using this weapon! It's against everything we stand for!"

"So, you would prefer to use the Chaos Emeralds again instead? No, I'm not mocking you, I'm being serious. You need to start resorting to dirty fighting when you're outnumbered and surrounded, unless you want to be completely overwhelmed. That's how it is, in war."

"You're not Sonic any more! You're not one of us! What the heck happened to you? Did you just give up? Didn't you even try getting yourself out of this mess?" Classic Sonic yelled.

"I don't know why you think this is such a terrible future. It's the only one in which you win the war. Absolutely the only one. I've done you a favour, preserving the only good future left in the Universe, even when you yourself were trying to destroy it! I've even sacrificed my own freedom, forced myself to live in this industrial hell-hole for who knows how many thousands of years, just for you! I won't be able leave this place once it's done, you know. But you will, and you'll actually have a homeland to return to this time."

"I'd rather Nintendo have my homeworld than someone like you!" he spat.

His eyes suddenly darkened with deranged fury, "You just went too far. I was willing to strike a deal with you, but if you would compare one of your own kind... someone the same as yourself... to Nintendo... it seems I must ask for help elsewhere. Security! Destroy the intruder!" screamed the Hedgehog from the Bad Future. After a few seconds of no robotic death, he looked around him and began tapping his foot.

"They're not here. Sorry. I told them that they were finished here and they could move on," admitted Classic Sonic, "I didn't think they would actually listen to me. Maybe they thought I was you."

"You traitors! I was going to reconfigure you as an assault drone fleet! How am I going to mop up the survivors of the laser strike now?"

"I didn't think they would listen," he shrugged, "Maybe they thought I was you."

"You will never be like me!"

"I know. I realise that, now. Thank you for reminding me," he said, jumping and curling into a tight ball in preparation for a spin-dash just as the other Hedgehog did the same. This is exactly what Miracle Sonic warned me about, thought Classic Sonic; a malicious doppelganger from a ruined future, with no way of sustaining life apart from stealing it from other versions of himself. Maybe this is where he first learned that such a thing existed, while he was sealing away the last vestiges of the Bad Future.

The insane Hedgehog moved impossibly fast, slamming into Classic Sonic with the force of a freight train and knocking him from one end of the corridor to the other. He's had all eternity to train, realised Classic, and he's been in such a hostile environment that he would need to fight just to stay alive every minute of the day. Grabbing him before he could stand up, the Hedgehog pinned his arms behind his back, jumped onto a crumbling balcony and threw him down the mine shaft below it. His head slammed against several exposed pipelines as he fell with enough momentum to break them off the wall. It had gotten dark. He couldn't tell whether it was because of concussion or because the lighting wasn't working in this cold, dank pit. He could hear the other Hedgehog roar as he jumped down after him in full spin-dash, but he didn't have any room to get out of the way.

Suddenly, the ground wobbled and rattled under his feet. This wasn't solid ground, he realised, it was a rusty old panel. A solid kick was enough to send it clattering down into the depths, and himself with it. His hand caught the edge of a chute, which he reflexively grabbed onto, hoisting himself inside and hoping that the other Hedgehog wouldn't be able to halt the spin-dash in time to follow him.

He landed in a large pile of rock dust at the other end of the chute. A broken down old robot lay beside him. It had worked itself into exhaustion without ever receiving the order to stop, he realised sadly. I have to get out of this place, but I can't just let him continue what he's doing to this place. I can barely defend myself against him anyway, never mind try to stop him. Even if I do just stop the project and then leave, what am I going to do afterwards? Return to my own dimension and watch my homeworld become overrun by Nintendo?

Suppressing a scream of frustration, he kicked the pile of dust. Pain shot through his big toe as he stubbed it on something that gave a rusty, creaking noise, then quickly spun around on its central pole, making a familiar noise. Once the dust had cleared, he could see the label on the post, sparkling now. Backwards, it read 'Past'.  
><em><br>So, miracles happen after all..._

He leaned over the edge, put two fingers to his lips and whistled. The second that he heard the rumbling roar that preceded a spin-dash in an enclosed space, he jumped out, twisting so that his hard spines took the brunt of the damage and he was propelled back up the mine shaft at the phenomenal speed needed to complete the time travel. He only hoped that there would be a long enough runway and he wasn't about to hit his head on the ceiling. It was a long shot, but the situation had already grown as improbable as it was ever going to get.


	4. Chapter 4

"And you're sure you can't sense Classic Sonic anywhere?" asked Miracle Sonic. Modern Sonic shook his head. The expression on the other Hedgehog's face was making him start to worry as well.

"I thought he went to Quartz Quadrant. He's not in trouble again, is he?"

"No. Well... I don't know. I can't find him at all. I was hoping you could. You've been around him longer. It's very dangerous to go to Quartz Quadrant right now," he said, "If he went there, he didn't come out again and he's completely off the radar, I'm worried about what might have happened to him."

"Shouldn't we go in and look for him?"

"If we go anywhere near that Zone, the same thing may happen to us." I can't even think about going there without seeing the Bad Future so clearly, I may as well be back there again.

"Well, I'm not scared," said Modern Sonic, "I'm gonna go and rescue him! I'll take the whole Zone apart looking for him if I have to!"

Miracle Sonic was about to give his opinion on people trying to pull Quartz Quadrant Zone apart every time his back was turned, but he was stopped short by another vision, more intense than any so far, that hit him with an almost physical force.

"Hey, what's wrong?" demanded Modern Sonic, helping him up, "You're always zoning out!"

"The Time Stones," he replied in a hazy voice, "Something's interfering with them. I think one of them has been activated!"

"I'll help protect them!" declared the Hedgehog, running on ahead of him before he could cry out a warning. He hadn't even told Modern Sonic where the Time Stones, and the gates to access them, had been moved to since they were liberated from Robotnik! Was he just acting rashly, or were those two sneaking into the pocket dimension where the Time Stones were held, while he wasn't looking? That meant Classic Sonic could easily be...

Miracle Sonic began moving even faster. By the time he had reached the statue of the ringed planet in the vast central chamber of Wacky Workbench, surrounded by a diorama of stars, he was out of breath. To his relief but confusion, the entrance hadn't been unsealed. Miracle Sonic pressed the palm of his hand against the inscription on the plinth and the globe retracted into the base, leaving only a giant ring that was now glowing golden and rotating. An uncomfortable static sensation passed through his whole body as he jumped through the ring, his senses were filled with the same torrent of emerald and silver light as when he travelled through time. He was inside a similar-looking chamber, surrounded by a circle of the mysterious ringed planets. He knew himself to be deep within the planet's core, in a place no longer reachable from anywhere on the planet. This was their normal resting place when they weren't being stolen by mad scientists. The Time Stones were surrounded by crystal outcrops that hummed with the power resonating through them as they focussed and intensified the Stones' power even as they reflected their sparkling rainbow lights. The darker blue Stone, governing the localised space-time continuum of Quartz Quadrant, flared with energy, reacting to whatever was happening in the Zone. Small eddies were feeding back into the other Stones and they were filled with rapidly pulsing lights.

"Did he travel in time?" asked Miracle Sonic, frowning. The method of time travel that had brought him into the future in the first place didn't apply to Miracle Planet, with its own closed loop unaffected by any distortions in the outside world. He clearly hadn't used the Time Stones. Nobody had been in here or tried to affect them, whatever was happening to them had to do with a fluctuation in the space-time continuum they were governing. Miracle Sonic jumped as the dark blue Stone flickered and almost disappeared. It was fighting with all the power it contained just to exist in this dimension at all.

"Could he have used a time post?" asked Modern Sonic.

"Those all disappeared a long time ago. But if time is in flux again, the Time Stones might have decided it was an emergency and brought them back into existence."

"Should we go back in time after him?" suggested Modern Sonic.

"I think that's all we can do right now," he replied, "This is an emergency, so I'm going to lift my ban on anyone else using the Time Stones. He's definitely in the past, but he could be in the recent past or the distant past. We're just going to have to keep on going back through time until we can spot him."

"I hope he hasn't done anything stupid," said Modern Sonic.

"I'm starting to think he may be the least of our problems."

* * *

><p>It made his life a lot easier but Classic Sonic was becoming increasingly unnerved by the fact that none of the robots were attacking him. They mostly completely ignored him, one or two looked very confused at his presence and one of them had even called him 'Director'. The time period he came to know as the Present, although at least ten years had passed since he was last there, was otherwise the same as it always had been. Still, he knew that he wasn't really supposed to be here – there shouldn't be any reason to return – and he felt a prickling sensation down his spine that had nothing to do with how spiky his back was, more to do with the pair of eyes he felt watching him every time he turned a corner. The feeling didn't go away when he found the next Past signpost and went to look for the same mine shaft to fall down. He vaguely wondered if he would have to go and fix the rest of the Zones after this. The others didn't look as though they were affected at all. He wasn't even sure if he was supposed to be destroying the robot generators again, but when he landed almost on top of one of them, he shrugged and went for it again. It wouldn't hurt to not have armies of robots tearing apart the planet, even ones that kept following him around like lost puppies and calling him 'Director'.<p>

He took a flying leap and curled up into a ball before slamming down onto the weak point of the generator. Instead of simply breaking, the lid of the generator was sliding upwards like the jaws of a giant mechanical crocodile. He tried to change direction in mid-air but he was shocked by a jolt of electricity that momentarily paralysed him. Wires shot out to hold him in place and then the lid snapped shut.

"I told you I didn't need your co-operation to get what I needed," said a familiar voice. A platform floated up to the ledge where the false generator had been installed. The insane Hedgehog inspected his handiwork casually, "It's already been decided, you see. Or why else did you think the robots obeyed your orders? I know why they obey me. It was easier to hack the control system once I found the leftover control circuits from Metallix, and with the original Metallix taken back to Moebius by Robotnik, the robots decided I was him. I really am an important part of this world, and so are you."

"You're full of it," said Classic Sonic, trying to ignore the pain of being in the rather uncomfortable position, "If you did that to me, I'd just be able to ruin your plans quicker. I'll just tell the robots to shut down. Anyway, they probably think you're Metallix because of your wonderful personality."

"Indeed. So, how does that make you look right now? You'll feel differently once the implants are fully installed. You won't want to shut yourself or any other part of the machine down. It worked for me. Although I won't even be necessary here at all, soon. Goodbye, Director..."

"Found you!" announced a sing-song voice. Classic Sonic craned his neck to see what was happening but this was made unnecessary by the fact that several pounds of sharp hedgehog had landed on his cage at the right angle to force the hinge open again.

"Well, this was a dumb place to hide," commented Modern Sonic as he helped Classic Sonic pull himself free of the machine that was now sparking and leaking black smoke. Miracle Sonic stood behind him on another moving platform, arms folded as he inspected the mess. Shaking his head, he walked up to the crazy cyborg Hedgehog, who glared at him. The other two Hedgehogs had ceased to become of interest to him, compared to the one who had trapped him in Hell for all eternity.


	5. Chapter 5

"That's right. Your issue is with me," said Miracle Sonic, "I'm not going to let you ruin my planet again. I probably deserve what's coming, if I really did cause this to happen to you, but you're not taking it out on my planet or anyone else's."

"I have just as much right to the planet as you do," said the other Hedgehog, "My Future has just as much right to exist."

"You could just leave, you know. You weren't supposed to be trapped in there, and the two Futures are connected now. Time's in flux again."

"Even if I did leave with you, to the world where you're in charge, instead of staying here in the new home I've built up from nothing, it won't you any good. You can't just turn this into another Good Future. This place doesn't even work by the same rules any more. It's changed. The last time someone tried to destroy it, it ate them, and almost turned them into one of its own. It won't go away, either. The other possible Future doesn't go away when you make a new one, you just end up with one extra. "

"It's already putting too much strain on the Time Stones for both Futures to exist at once," said Miracle Sonic, "They're fighting for existence, trying to control each other."

"I hope mine wins."

"Don't you see? The entire local space-time continuum of the planet will be torn apart! We have to at least stop them fighting for control. I can make the link between them permanent, so you can jump between them at will, or stay in your own if you really want to. I can't let you move the Time Stones, though, or destroy the planet or any others."

"You don't want me to change history? You really want this place to become a prison for both of us? Or are you allowed to make a difference in the Universe and I'm not?"

"I only intervene in the outside world when I find out that something related to what I've already done has caused serious problems," said Miracle Sonic, "A situation like this one, in fact. Once day I may be able to leave the planet. I don't know if I'll want to leave, but if I do, that means I won't be able to travel in time any more, or keep anything I left on the planet."

"So, this planet will never interact with the outside world at all?"

"That was a decision already made by the owners of this planet a long time before we came here," he said, "If you want to change history, it might not be the best place for you to stay. The world doesn't really like your Future existing. One way or another, it's going to break down. You'll have to either maintain it properly or move on somewhere else."

The Hedgehog from the Bad Future laughed, the first genuine humour, "I believe I've heard that before from somewhere else."

"So, you'll co-operate?"

* * *

><p>"Who's this?" Modern Sonic demanded of Classic Sonic, "My head hurts from all the Hedgehogs!"<p>

"He's Miracle Sonic, but from the Bad Future!"

"Oh... did you give him a name yet? What about Badnic?"

"What's this? Did you just call me Badnic! Don't you dare!" warned Badnic, "If you're going to give me a stupid nickname, at least call me..."

"Director Sonic? Neo Metallix?" suggested Classic Sonic, rubbing his aching neck. He was still having difficulties standing up and he found himself leaning on Modern Sonic for support. He was covered in rust, small scratches and rock dust, one of his spines was chipped and his leg was bleeding from the insane Hedgehog's initial furious attack. I probably look more like a crazed Apocalypse survivor than he does, thought Classic.

"You're in no condition to keep fighting," noted Miracle Sonic "This isn't your problem any more anyway. I should never have taken you to Miracle Planet while a problem like this still existed... I thought it had all been resolved. I checked several times! I've failed my duty to this planet."

"We can't just abandon you. You still need our help!" said Modern Sonic.

"You've got to help Classic Sonic now. You're going to have your own problems to deal with. You've seen for yourself how much of a mess you can make when you play around with time travel."

"You're really going to make a deal with that guy? He just said he wants to preserve the Bad Future!" said Modern Sonic.

"No, the Bad Future exists anyway. He just wants to live in it, for some reason."

"Well, if you ever have any more problems, just come and find me again," said Modern Sonic, "You've already taught me a lot."

"Me too. I thought I was going to go crazy, but when I see you, I know I've got a lot of work ahead of me before I reach the real heights of craziness. I'm going to miss you, Badnic!" said Classic Sonic, waving at him.

"If you ever want to buy some Quartz..." Badnic waved back. Modern Sonic grabbed Classic and ran off to find a Future post. They would have to find something to do while they waited for a break in the negotiations. It would be a complicated affair to return them to their respective time zones, and it really was time for Classic Sonic to go home.


	6. Chapter 6

"Nobody's gonna believe what you're saying, you know," said Alex Kidd, stretching his arms and yawning as they walked up the path to Sega's heavily fortified Supreme Headquarters, "You'll just be reprimanded for having a negative effect on morale. Probably sent for a psych evaluation, too."

"For saying I've just returned from the future, or for saying we're losing?" asked Classic Sonic, grinning. Even though he was back in his own time period, he kept accidentally thinking of himself as Classic Sonic. He missed his future counterpart already.

"Both," the young man shrugged, "It's our job to be heroes, not to give strategy advice, anyway."

"But heroes are supposed to win. So I've got to make sure we do. I was lucky to be given this information, so I have to make sure I use it properly. I even know some of the specific details of the enemy's strategy, so some of them might give us important intelligence. They can't pull surprises on us if I know what's coming," he said. It had been emotional torture to ask Modern Sonic for all the details he knew about how exactly they had been defeated but he now knew a few things Nintendo didn't want him to know.

Alex Kidd looked him directly in the eyes, daring him to keep a straight face. "You're serious about this, aren't you? You really did travel forwards in time," he said.

"We're important people, you know, I think they would have to listen to us if we got public opinion on our side."

"We won't inspire anyone if we tell them that we're losing."

"We can make defeat sound cool. The last desperate resistance of an oppressed nation. An elegantly fallen exiled Prince. That sort of thing. I've seen it work on Moebius," he hoped that the 'exiled Prince' part would especially appeal to Alex Kidd.

"Um... Robotnik was invading Moebius. We're the invading party in this situation, remember?"

"Okay, so maybe I'll have to work on this a little..."

* * *

><p>"The Smash Tournament?" echoed Tails, frowning as he looked at the poster in Modern Sonic's hand, "Isn't that dangerous?"<p>

"I've seen those guys fight before, and I reckon I could take them," Sonic scoffed, "If a chimpanzee can win, a Hedgehog can win!"

"That chimpanzee and I have been exchanging notes for a new battle walker. He's at least as intelligent as I am," warned Tails, "I don't think you should do this. Fighting in some cage match isn't our style!"

"As opposed to living our entire lives in a cage?" asked Modern Sonic, "I've heard you can win your heart's desire if you become the Champion of the Super Smash Arena. They'd have to give us our freedom!"

"Well, I think the 'heart's desire' thing is probably just a rumour, but it's traditional for prisoners to earn their freedom in an Arena. The games certainly are a Nintendo national obsession, so we'll become big news! They'll have to take us seriously if we're plastered all over the headlines, on the same pages as their heroes!"

"Exactly. And it's not actually like I'll be thrown to the lions. Not that I couldn't beat up a lion," he added quickly, "But it's all special effects and clever tricks. They have the best medics on hand at all times in case someone gets seriously hurt. Their own heroes have to compete in these Tournaments as well, after all! They only just decided to let foreigners in the Tournament at all. It's our duty to go, just to represent Sega!"

"Classic Sonic would be mad at you if he knew," Tails pointed out, "He'd call you their Arena slave or a performing monkey or something."

"Then I'll have to make it up to him," said Modern Sonic, folding his arms, "I'm going to win, Tails. I'm going to win our freedom!"

* * *

><p>Sonic leaned on the railings and looked out at the stars. He wasn't sure if they were the actual night sky or an illusion but he had to try and look, just in case he could really see it. Planets didn't move that quickly, so unless the Time Stones hadn't quite sent him back to the right time, there was a good chance that it would still be there.<p>

As the sky grew darker, it appeared: a magnificent blue and green jewel, and besides it, a twin planet, a metallic orb that pulsed with a corona of red light. Both were lit up by the glittering rainbow Time Stones as they guided the Miracle Planets on their way through the cosmos, towards whatever eventual destination had been planned out by the strange intelligences that watched over them.

Sonic wished them good luck.


End file.
